1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to storage device carriers and chassis assemblies. More particularly, the present invention relates to storage device carriers comprising a support member (e.g., a tray, a sled, a frame, or a pair of rails) in which more than one storage device (e.g., a Hard Disk Drive or a Solid State Disk drive) can be inserted therein and removed therefrom as a single unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional computer systems and information networks require external data storage for storing large volumes of data. The external data storage typically includes Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) or Solid State Disk (SSD) drives. The HDD/SSD family sizes known in the related art include at least 3.5″, 2.5″, 1.8″, 1.3″ and 1.0″ diameter drives.
Various mechanisms have been developed for housing the HDDs or SSD drives. One such mechanism is referred to as a hard disk drive (HDD) carrier and chassis assembly. The HDD carrier and chassis assembly accommodates the HDD and mechanically mates with the chassis assembly. During operation, an HDD is typically disposed in the HDD carrier. The HDD carrier is then inserted into a drive cage (or drive bay) in a computer chassis. An electromagnetic interface (EMI) shield is often included as part of the HDD carrier. The EMI shield functions to prevent any EMI interference from radiating outside of the computer or disk enclosure. The EMI shield also functions to reduce the susceptibility of the HDD/SDD to EMI interference originating from other components external to the EMI shield.
Often the computer chassis (enclosure or shelf) is installed into a EIU standard ‘rack’ of predetermined standard dimensions. The enclosure may have at least one linear dimension that is a multiple of a standard dimension. The standard dimension is referred to as a rack unit (“U” or “RU”), and multiples of this dimension are referred to as 2U, 3U, etc. The rack may be configured as a plurality of horizontal enclosures arranged in a vertical stack, where the rack unit is in a vertical direction. Alternatively, the rack may be configured as a plurality of shelves (enclosures), such that the rack unit is in a horizontal direction. Within each enclosure (shelf) there are a number of disk drives. Each disk drive may be located horizontally or vertically into the shelf. Each disk drive will be inserted into a ‘Sled’ or ‘Disk Carrier’. Each Disk Carrier may have a PCB ‘paddle card’ acting as an interposer between the disk drive and a midplane circuit board. The midplane circuit board may be arranged in a plane substantially orthogonal to the plane of the plurality of Disk Carriers, wherein the midplane circuit board provides electrical interconnections within the plurality of Disk Carrier, and from the plurality of circuit boards to other portions of the computer system or vice versa. Usage of a midplane circuit board allows additional circuitry to be located in an area behind the midplane board. The additional circuitry typically includes cooling fans and a controller. If no additional circuitry is located behind the midplane, then the midplane may be equivalent to a backplane. Without limiting the embodiments described herein, the additional circuitry may be of a wide variety of designs that are either compatible or non-compatible with industry standards for rack enclosures, such as the Storage Bridge Bay (“SBB”) specifications, which are known to persons of ordinary skill in the art.
Various HDD carrier (e.g., sled) and chassis assemblies have been developed that include more than one drive per carrier in a horizontal or vertical orientation, however these carriers are unable to support hot-swapping of two or more drives simultaneously. Some other HDD carrier and chassis assemblies have implemented higher drive densities, however these assemblies include only a single drive, and do not include a hot-swappable power capability. No other HDD carrier permits tool-less insertion or removal of the disk from the carrier.
Despite the advantages of the HDD carrier and chassis assembly, it suffers from certain drawbacks. For example, storage density in a chassis may be unable to fully take advantage of new, physically smaller drive sizes because the number of drives—and ultimately the storage capacity—in the chassis is limited by the size of the sled holding the drive. The size and quantity of connectors needed to interface the drives to the chassis for electrical communication has an undesirable impact upon the volumes of space able to be devoted to other functions within the chassis. The lack of a hot-swap capability results in more cumbersome maintenance procedures when a drive has to be replaced.